[geeks] Re: [rescue] OT taxes

[Lionel Peterson]

> From: Brian Dunbar <brian.dunbar at plexus.com>
> Date: 2004/04/20 Tue AM 04:03:25 GMT
> To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
> Subject: [geeks] Re: [rescue] OT taxes
> 
> Forwarded to Geeks
> 
> On Apr 19, 2004, at 12:11 PM, Kevin Loch wrote:
> 
> > Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:
> > Then the army should stop paying $xxxx per toilet seat.  

> The $500 toilet seat started life as a misunderstanding, IIRC.  The 
> Navy needed seats to outfit a certain class of P3 Orion, there were a 
> limited number of birds, and they had to  meet some extraordinary 
> requirements for crash worthiness.  That's the story I head, ymmv.

They had an interesting bit on that topic on "The West Wing" a few years ago - Christian Slater (?!) was playing the part of a Navy consultant to the White HOuse, and mentioned that the ash tray on his desk came from a battleship (I think), and it cost $XXX. It was just a plain glass ash tray, and the person he was talking to questioned the cost.

He piked up the ash tray, slammed it on the desk, and it broke into exactly two pieces.

He pointed out the requirement that the ash tray not shatter, as you don't want glass shards flying through the air when the ship is attacked.

As the previous poster said, you can't assume the toilet seat requirements are the same as a domestic toilet seat...

Now, if battleships were more like private residences, yes, you could use a $10 toilet seat from Home Depot... But they're not, and you can't...